- Stella McCartney announces positive results in its first Global Environmental Profit and Loss Account for 2015
London, 2016-Oct-04 — /EPR Retail News/ — After a nearly 3 year review process, Stella McCartney announces its first Global Environmental Profit and Loss Account for the full calendar year 2015. The Stella McCartney brand has a deeply rooted commitment to being a responsible and modern company since launching in 2001. Since 2013, it has taken a further commitment by measuring its impact on natural capital using the E P&L along with the more traditional P&L management tool.
Stella McCartney is a vegetarian brand that has never used leather, fur, skins or feathers in our products. This is a decision that we have always stood by both for ethical and environmental reasons and the EP&L made public in 2015 for the wider Kering business has helped to further document the environmental impact leather has. Through the E P&L we have been able to more directly compare the impact of the alternatives that we use to the impacts of leather use (more detailed breakdown of this comparison can be found in the supplementary documents).
The methodology centres around placing a monetary value on the environmental costs and benefits of our business generated by our direct operations and across our entire supply chain. This has allowed us to better manage the impact of our activities through product design, informed sourcing decisions, and manufacturing research and development.
In 2015, as reported by the Kering Group, the growth of Stella McCartney has been double digit in its retail network for the full year. Sales were up in all product categories, and across all distribution channels. That momentum drove an increase in both recurring operating income and recurring operating margin and delivered the best performance since the launch of the company.
Our 2015 EP&L impact of €5.5m represents a 7% growth in impact over the past 3 years however, whilst, and simultaneous to this growth our EP&L impact has reduced by 35% per kg of material used over the past three years. The result is a significant reduction. In 2013 the average impact per kg of material used was €11.82, in 2014 it was €9.76, and in 2015 it was €7.69. This represents an overall 35% reduction in the environmental impact of our materials since 2013. This is due largely to changes made in sourcing.
Stella McCartney comments: “Fashion is an industry that makes a significant impact on the planet. It’s not just cool clothes and trends…. Every single day, myself and my entire team are challenging ourselves and the industry: what we can do better? Can we be responsible and accountable for what we make and how we make it? Our dream is to improve, but we have to start somewhere in order to progress… so here we are, and this is the start of our journey, and as you can see, we are not perfect but something is better than nothing. I’m hoping to share and encourage the industry to join in, and evaluate its environmental footprint for our future.”
The EP&L looks at six major categories of environment impact (greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, water pollution, water consumption, waste disposal, and changes in ecosystem services associated with land use change) across all of our business and supply chain, from the production of raw materials through to our own operations and sale of products to the customer.
The results of the EP&L have shown us that the most highly concentrated area of environmental impact for the company is at the supply chain (90%), with the highest concentration of impact at the raw material stage (57%). Our own direct operations represent only 10% of our impact.
Frederick Lukoff, CEO comments: “Our current EP&L would be most accurately described as an account of our ‘losses’—since all businesses have negative impact on the environment. We are, however, striving to balance our accounts. We are working towards projects and sources that would account for profits while delivering real benefits for the environment.
Stella McCartney, added: “Over the past three years we have focused heavily on reducing our environmental impact, we are not perfect, but we will continue this effort. In addition to researching new ways to reduce impacts, we are also beginning to move towards transitioning away from merely doing less bad, to doing measurable good. We have many exciting projects in the pipeline and are looking forward to sharing them in the future.”
About Stella McCartney
Stella McCartney is a 50/50 joint venture partnership between Ms. Stella McCartney and Kering established in 2001. A lifelong vegetarian, Stella McCartney does not use any leather or fur in her designs. The brand’s ready-to-wear, accessories, lingerie, fragrance, kids and Adidas by Stella McCartney collections are available through 47 free-standing stores including London, Paris, Milan, New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai as well over 600 wholesale accounts in key cities worldwide. For additional information, please visit: www.stellamccartney.com.
Additional information on the Kering Group available at www.Kering.com
For more information please contact:
Tel (London): 44 207 898 2710
Tel (Paris): 33 1 53 00 9300
Tel (NYC): 212 627 1583
Source: Stella McCartney